It is the practice of postal authorities to print machine-readable markings on envelopes which pass through the postal system, to signify a particular sorting or delivery code.
One common practice is that at the sorting office the envelope passes through a station at which the envelope is visually presented to a clerk; the clerk reads the postal code written by the sender on the outside of the envelope, and then presses the appropriate keys to print a corresponding machine readable code, for example a series of bars, typically of fluorescent ink, on the envelope. In the case of window envelopes, the clerk reads the postal code as written on the item of correspondence that lies inside the envelope, and again presses the keys to print the bars.
Thereafter, the bars can be detected automatically; consequently, once the bars have been printed on the envelope, the envelope need not be handled by post office personnel again until it is actually delivered.
Fluorescent ink, as opposed to ordinary ink, is specified by many national Post offices for the markings that are to be detected automatically, to make sure that only the markings themselves are read by the automatic detectors. In practice, there is generally no way in which spurious fluorescent markings could appear by accident, and be detected, on the envelopes. However, some national Post Offices specify, for example, black ink.
The task of manually reading the postal codes, and manually keying-in the appropriate markings, is tedious, and requires a high degree of concentration on the part of the coding clerk. Also, processing time is relatively slow, such that a large number of clerks are required where mail volumes are high, contributing significantly to post office labour costs. Equipment for the machine-reading of postal codes is in common use, at least where the codes are printed or typewritten. The equipment can respond to ordinary alpha-numeric characters. The degree of accuracy of such equipment however is only fair, and it is still necessary to employ clerks to process the many "rejects" that the equipment cannot read.
With window envelopes, the problem of correctly detecting and reading the characters through the window is worse, and consequently the accuracy to be expected from the traditional equipment falls still further.
It is the high-volume user with which the invention is mainly concerned, in which the user sends out, for example, a million items per month, all of a similar nature. A typical example would be a bank which issues credit card statements. In a number of jurisdictions, savings in postal rates are available if the envelopes in which these statements are sent can be printed, in-house, with the machine-readable code, representative of the particular postal code, as this eliminates a mail processing step at the post office. Although savings per piece of mail may be small, high-volume users may achieve significant savings in postal charges.
Further, the high-volume user, as in the example of a bank which issues credit card statements as described above, desires not to print up the envelope at the time the statement is printed. The high-volume user prefers rather that the envelope be not unique to the particular statement, since attempting to match the envelopes to the letters, especially when other enclosures are required to be inserted into the envelopes in addition to the statements, is difficult. Accordingly, it is preferred to make only the statement unique, and make use of window envelopes. Thus it is not convenient to provide envelopes preprinted with the appropriate machine-readable code.
A number of patent documents were considered in relation to the invention, these patents being listed below:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,220
U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,835
U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,030
U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,347
U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,747
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,189
U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,195
U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,832
U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,504
U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,505
U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,506
U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,869
U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,386
United Kingdom Patent No. 2,193,160
United Kingdom Patent No. 1,486,596
United Kingdom Patent No. 550,618
European Patent No. 0,076,972
U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,142
U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,817
U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,220 to Nelson et al. is entitled SELECTIVELY ENCODABLE ENVELOPE INSERT AND RELATED APPARATUS, and describes a magnetically readable envelope insert provided with bars of magnetized ink located on detachable portions of the insert. The insert may be read while still inside an envelope. The insert has particular application for insertion in reply envelopes, different portions of the insert being detached to indicate certain orders or different methods of payment. For an illustration of this, see, for example, the chart at the bottom of column 3 of the patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,835, to Miura et al. is entitled ARRANGEMENT FOR DETECTING A WINDOW AREA OF A WINDOW-HAVING MAIL ITEM and describes apparatus for detecting the location of the window area of an envelope using photoelectric detectors.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,030 to Berghell, entitled MAILING PACKAGE FOR FACILITATING AUTOMATIC SORTING OF MAIL, relates to the provision of machine readable coded arrays on the exterior of an envelope. The invention has particular application for use with reusable envelopes. When the envelope is sent out, for example from a utility to a customer, the coded arrays are provided by punching apertures corresponding to an address in a sheet and placing a sheet of contrasting colour behind this, such that the contrasting colour of the back sheet is visible through the apertures, and through a window in a containing envelope, and may be read by a sorting machine. When the envelope is returned to the utility, the location of the contrasting sheet of colour is moved such that it lies behind an array of apertures punched in the envelope, such that this array may be read and used to facilitate sorting of the returning mail.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,347 to Clark et al. is entitled SYSTEM FOR PRINTING ENCRYPTED MESSAGES WITH A CHARACTER GENERATOR AND BAR-CODE REPRESENTATION, and relates to a postage meter for use in imprinting various information, including a zip code or bar code, on the exterior of an envelope or the like. The information is entered manually by an operator. The main thrust of the disclosed invention appears to be in the prevention of fraud and forgery involving postal stamps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,747 to Fougere et al. is entitled POSTAGE AND MAILING INFORMATION APPLYING SYSTEM and discloses a system for encoding information on an envelope or other piece of mail. The patent discloses the printing of a bar code on a label, directly on an envelope, or in an insert which is visible through a window.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,189 to Daboub relates to apparatus for coding re-usable envelopes and discloses a system for manually entering bar codes on the outside of an envelope for internal mailing systems.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,821,195, 4,797,832, 4,800,504, 4,800,505, 4,800,506, 4,853,869, and 4,862,388 all relate to bulk mailing systems, in which the information which is printed on the exterior of the envelope is extracted from a data base.
In United Kingdom Patent Application No. 2,193,160, applicant Thorn EMI plc, entitled PRINTER, a unit is disclosed in which means are provided for determining whether an address signal includes a post code. If an post code is detected, an extractor derives the relevant information from a data store, the resultant signal being combined with the address signal at a summer before input to an address writer. The post code is applied to the envelope or label in a phosphor-dot form which is easily machine-readable. The remainder of the address is printed in conventional form. Thus, a multi-mode printer is provided which is capable of printing in alphanumeric script and in machine-readable phosphor-dot code. The printer may be a modified conventional printer and may have an impact printing mechanism (for example, a daisy 5 wheel arrangement) with two ribbons (one for each form of printing), or one ribbon with two bands.
In United Kingdom Patent No. 1,486,596, granted to Hotchkiss Brandt Mecanisation, and entitled CODING HEAD FOR POSTAL ENVELOPES AND A CODING STATION FITTED THEREWITH, discloses apparatus for printing a machine readable postal code on an envelope is disclosed. The system is intended for use in an operation where control signals characteristic of a code marking to be printed are produced as a function of an address read by an operator, who punches into a keyboard the address details and a logic device translates these to the appropriate control signals. The printing head includes an assembly for holding an envelope to be coded in register with a printing ribbon. A plurality of printing bars having parallel printing heads mounted in register with a portion of the inking ribbon are provided, the number of bars being equal to the number of printing coding marks which may be printed. The coding head may be manually fed with individual envelopes by an operator or may be automatically fed to reading position from which the envelope is manually transferred to a coding position.
In United Kingdom Patent No. 550,618, granted to Remington Rand Inc., entitled IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO STATISTICAL MACHINES, a machine which reads the information contained in a punched data card, and then prints this information on the same card. The machine discloses a complex mechanical arrangement for sensing the perforations on a punched card, temporarily retaining this information, decoding the information and printing the decoded information onto the card at a different location in the machine.
In
U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,142, to Paup et al, entitled AUTOMATED PROCESSING OF FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS, apparatus for the automatic processing of bank cheques is disclosed. The cheques are encoded with a line of alphanumeric characters and are processed by passing through a first station for generating an item control number unique to each document and a read station for sensing each character in the encoded line to produce a string of data signals for each document. At a print station the control number and other data are imprinted on the back of each document in code form and the control number and other data are imprinted on the face of each document in human readable form. The read station includes an MICR read station, an OCR read station and a bar-code read station. The print station includes a bar code ink jet printer, a bar code indicator, and a dual alphanumeric ink jet printer. The MICR read station serves to read the alphanumeric data encoded in magnetic ink on the bottom of each cheque, while the OCR read station reads the same line of information. This information is merged to produce a single output data stream. The printing of the correct information on each cheque is synchronized by means of a central computer.
In
U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,817 to Alas, entitled BAR CODE PRINTING MECHANISM, there is disclosed the use of two synchronized printing heads, each spaced apart longitudinally for printing one half a bar of, for example, a U.S. postal code. The operation of the forwardmost head is delayed for a period of time sufficient to allow the target object to have moved a distance approximately equal to the spacing between the heads.